While in the NFL with the Jets & Rams, Joe Namath moonlighted as an actor, having appeared in at least one film, "CC & Company", and had his own talk show for a season (previously reviewed).
So why in the blue hizell did he end up in a sitcom as a basketball coach?
Some genius at Lorimar, the folks behind The Waltons & Dallas, convinced Fred Silverman at NBC that Namath would be perfect as a former player turned coach-teacher. Unfortunately, The Waverly Wonders lasted just a month in 1978. Poor ratings, coupled with killer competition (Wonder Woman, Donny & Marie), did in the Wonders.
Nine years earlier, now-disgraced comedian and Emmy winner Bill Cosby was cast as a gym teacher in a self-titled sitcom, and got two seasons, before transitioning to The Electric Company and Fat Albert, plus a short-lived variety hour, the latter two series for CBS. Did NBC think they'd catch lightning in a bottle again with Namath?
To even suggest that The Waverly Wonders fell somewhere in between, say, The Bill Cosby Show and, for another example, because of the classroom aspect, Our Miss Brooks or Welcome Back, Kotter, would actually sell all of those shows short. It was Namath and a cast of unknowns, and viewers voted with their remotes.
In my memory, my folks were either into Wonder Woman, cable movies, or what few baseball games were still available during the season with the Yankees, Mets, & Red Sox. To that end, there's no rating, and we'll leave you with this short clip:
I remember the NBSee Us promos and I knew of this show but I definitely didn't watch it. I was likely watching either Donny and Marie or Wonder Woman at that time, since those and the odd TV special were as close as I could get to cartoons in prime time pre-cable.
ReplyDeleteWith me at that time, it was either cable movies (WSBK, WOR, WPIX), Wonder Woman, or I was out of the house with a church youth group, dropping the latter after I moved to my current home. It wasn't long, of course, before Donny & Marie moved to Sundays to end their run, and Wonder Woman was also cancelled to make room for the Dukes of Hazzard.
ReplyDeleteLarry Hagman had two pilot scripts arrive for him at the same time, DALLAS and WAVERLY WONDERS. His wife Maj read DALLAS while Larry began reading this one. Larry's wife immedately told him DALLAS was the one, and so Hagman passed on WAVERLY WONDERS. I guess all in all that decision worked out OK for him!
ReplyDeleteIt sure did. He's remembered more for JR now than for Tony Nelson (I Dream of Jeannie).
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